Sarajevo (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – In his seminal work “Animal Farm,” George Orwell astutely observed, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” This aphorism resonates powerfully in the contemporary international order, where the preeminence of power frequently overrides human rights, international regimes, conventions, the United Nations Charter, and even the consensus of non-aligned nations. This manifestation of force not only disregards international norms but also endeavors to suspend them, positioning itself as the legislator and enforcer of a new order imposed upon other global actors. This phenomenon is increasingly intertwined with U.S. influence, resulting in proxy wars, territorial expansions, or targeted genocide and legalized apartheid devoid of any sense of shame or constraint.
The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East exemplifies the emergence of a stark double standard. In this scenario, any actor allied with the White House is “more equal” than others, even presuming that other independent and non-aligned actors are treated equally within a Global South coalition—a rather optimistic assumption. Israel, a state forged from clandestine agreements over the spoils of World War II among major powers, has acquired a substantial portion of its territory through occupation beyond the 1967 borders. Currently, it seeks to expand both horizontally and vertically through the ethnic-cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
The geopolitics of shame involves institutional-legal discrimination or neglect of an actor due to specific geopolitical factors. This means that military assaults or unconditional support for an actor can be part of the geopolitical discrimination agenda. Israel failed to protect civilians during its prolonged bombardment and killed around 40 thousand people, most of whom are women and children, according to Hamas’s Ministry of Health.
However, if one assumes that this situation has prompted Americans to pressure Israel to prevent genocide or to endorse a two-state solution or the return of nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees to their homeland in any practical, concrete manner, one would be mistaken. De facto, Israel’s modern apartheid in the occupied territories for Palestinian residents enjoys multifaceted American support. Currently, the U.S. provides nearly $3 billion annually in military aid to Israel. Since 1970, the U.S. has exercised its veto power at least 42 times in favor of Israel, blocking UN Security Council draft resolutions on Israel. During the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) investigation into Israel’s alleged genocide of Palestinians, 12 Republican senators in Congress threatened the ICC and its staff with “severe sanctions” and “travel bans.” Additionally, Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives, urged the Biden administration to immediately and without delay demand the ICC halt and withdraw its investigation. Since 2021, Israel has denied ICC officials access to the West Bank and Gaza.
The issue, however, is not that international law has changed, but that different actors are in question. Russia is the West’s adversary, while Israel is a friend and ally. The U.S. has abandoned a rule of law that applies to all for a personalistic policy where international law is applied to enemies but not to friends. Today, these friends comprise a coalition of Israeli far-right and ultra-nationalist-religious groups aiming to eradicate Palestinians in Gaza and to deploy scorched earth tactics. For the Israeli Right, the debate is not about the right to exist for Palestinians and a Palestinian state but about how to eliminate them to rid the nuisance called Palestine.
For the West, particularly Americans, the issue is neither Israel’s apartheid regime over Palestinians, the intensification of a comprehensive regional war, nor even the genocide of Palestinians. The U.S.-Israel collaboration is not merely due to the influence of Israeli lobbies in America, but an expression of white nationalism — the same white nationalism that had driven the annihilation of Native Americans, which was only partly physical. The main issue was to vacate the space as if Native Americans had never existed, except in the ghettos built for them, like internal migrants who once owned the land. In many ways, Palestinians are the new Native Americans, or rather Israel’s Native Americans.
In this geography of shame, it is felt essential that Palestine must be eliminated, denied the right of return to their land, and its territory increasingly occupied each year. The more significant issue is the ideological considerations in the White House and the geopolitical discrimination in the Middle East, which preclude any serious criticism of Israel by Americans within the White House and Congress. Yet, if the same actions were taken by Russia, China, or another actor outside the American order, they would be severely punished. This is the iron curtain that the American world and its partners have wrapped themselves in to avoid seeing outside. As the French psychiatrist and philosopher Jacques Lacan said, “The eye through which you look out at the world is the same eye through which the world looks back at you,” leaving no place to hide.
Now, it remains to be seen whether the international community is willing to distance itself from this geopolitics of shame and end the war with a specific strategy for the existence of two equal countries in terms of rights, security, economy, and welfare: Israel and Palestine, ensuring peace and peaceful coexistence. Shouldn’t the world once and for all stand against the violation of the concept of humanity by Israelis and grant Palestinians the right to an identity free from aggression? This is the test facing the non-American and even American world today. A test that, if ignored and without pressure on the violator of human rights and international security, may one day come back to haunt them, with no one left to defend them.
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